Confident consumers increase credit card debt – Clearly, people are feeling confident about their employment status and the amount of disposable income that they have. Consumers increased their borrowing in March by the largest amount in nearly a year as borrowing on credit cards rebounded following two months of declines. Consumer borrowing ex­­panded by $20.5 billion in March to a fresh record of $3.36 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. It was the largest increase since April 2014. Why can’t people put money aside for their future; why does cash always burn a hole in their pockets?

And for those who continually spend freely and have a real debt problem:

The Little-Known Lifeline for People Drowning in Credit Card Debt – If you’re struggling to make payments on your bills, you may not know that you have options – including what’s typically called a hardship repayment program. These are programs that banks may offer directly to you, their account holder, if you express how unaffordable payments have become (vocally with a phone call, or behaviorally by missing payments).